Regarding the Wizard
The Wizard of Frobozz can appear at any point and may cast various spells on you when he does. Most of them are harmless or merely inconvenient, and the best course of action is simply to do nothing and wait until the effect has worn off. Cast at the wrong time, though, their effects can occasionally cause you to die or get into an unsolvable state. You'll take care of the Wizard eventually, but until that point, I recommend you save your game regularly, just in case.
The Garden Area
Take the lamp and sword. Go south, south, south, southwest, south (don't worry about this one turn in the dark) and southeast to North End of Garden. If you see a "large, white animal" (the unicorn), look at it; we'll be back for that key later.
Enter the gazebo and get the teapot, then leave the gazebo. Go north and northeast to Shallow Ford and fill up the teapot with water. Turn on the lamp, and go south, southwest, and southwest to the Carousel Room.
You feel "sort of disoriented" because this room is spinning, and this means that you will only succeed in going the direction you type (other than west, which always fails) about 30% of the time. (See this comment from dmstelzer on Jason Dyer's blog Renga in Blue for a more detailed explanation of the algorithm.) Save the game. Try going southeast. If you end up in the Riddle Room, great. If not, restore, or return to the Carousel Room and try again. (southeast from Cool Room, south from Marble Hall, southwest from Path Near Stream, northeast from Cobwebby Corridor, west from Topiary, north from Menhir Room)
For Your Amusement:
Hang around in the Topiary for 15 turns. (save first)
The "Alice" Area
When you make your way to the Riddle Room, answer the riddle by typing answer "well". Go east to the Pearl Room. Get the necklace. Continue one more room east to the Circular Room. You are actually at the bottom of a well here. Enter the bucket, then pour water into it (from the teapot). After the bucket rises to Top of Well, get out of it by saying stand. Go east to the Tea Room. You can try reading the cakes, but the writing's too small to read on all but the green one: "Eat Me". Take all the cakes, and eat the green cake.
Now that you are in the Posts Room (the legs of the table in the Tea Room, natch, since you have shrunk), go east through what was once just a small hole to the Pool Room. Read the red, orange, and blue cakes through the flask. (I gotta say that understanding "through" is pretty sophisticated parsing.) "Evaporate", "Explode", and "Enlarge", huh? Drop the orange "Explode" cake and throw the red "Evaporate" cake in the pool. Take the candies. Go west back to the Posts Room and eat the blue "Enlarge" cake.
For Your Amusement:
Eat the orange "Explode" or red "Evaporate" cakes. (save first)
Eat the blue "Enlarge" cake in the Pool Room. (save first)
Open the flask. (save first)
The Robot and Room Spinner
Go northwest to the Low Room. Read the paper, which is instructions for the robot, then drop it. You have to be in the same room as the robot to give it commands, so to bring it along with you, you have to send it on ahead (e.g. robot, east) and then follow it.
Bringing the robot along, go east, then south to the Dingy Closet. Try to take the red crystal sphere. Tell the robot to lift the cage. Get the sphere and look into it. Send the robot north, then follow it to the Machine Room.
The buttons here control the room spinner that spins the Carousel Room. The square button increases the spin to high, the round button decreases the spin to low, and the triangular button switches the field between the Low Room and the Carousel Room. Have the robot push the triangular button. Go west to the Low Room. Save the game, then try to go southeast to the Tea Room. If you wind up back in the Machine Room, either restore or just try again, as with the Carousel Room.
When you make it to the Tea Room, go west to Top of Well and enter the bucket again. Fill the teapot (from the bucket) and you will descend to the bottom again, i.e. the Circular Room. Stand up from the bucket and drop the teapot. Go west twice and northwest back to the Carousel Room.
For Your Amusement:
Push one of the buttons in the Machine Room yourself. (save first)
Set the room-spinner to high, flip the field to the Low Room, then go west to the Low Room, or send the robot there. (save first)
The Dreary Room and the Dragon's Lair
Open the steel box that has appeared (since the room is no longer spinning) and get the violin. Go southwest to Cobwebby Corridor, get the string, then go southwest once more to the Guarded Room. Give the candies to the lizard head to put it to sleep. Drop the necklace, violin and red sphere here, since this is near where you'll need them in the future.
Go north, northeast, east, north, north to North End of Garden. Go in to the gazebo and get everything. Leave the gazebo and go south, west, southwest, and north to the Marble Hall. Get the "brick" (it's plastic explosive, actually).
Go north, north, and up to the Tiny Room. Put the place mat under the door, open the keyhole lid, then put the letter opener in the keyhole. Remove the letter opener and drop it. Get the place mat, and then get the key. Unlock the door with it, open the door, drop the key, and go north into the Dreary Room.
Take the blue sphere and look into it. Go south, down, west, and north to the Dragon Room. Attack the dragon with your sword. (If the Wizard has filched your sword, the brick will also work.) Leave by going south. The dragon will follow. Attack him with the sword again to keep him interested. Go south again, attack the dragon once more, and go west to the Ice Room.
After the fracas, you will be able to exit west to the volcano region, but we're not going there just yet.
For Your Amusement:
Play the violin.
Give the lizard guardian a crystal sphere.
Read the newspaper from the Gazebo.
Say hello to the dragon.
Give a treasure to the dragon. (save first, since you can't get it back)
Attack the dragon repeatedly, without leaving the room, while under the influence of the fireproof spell. (Hang around in the Dragon Room long enough and the Wizard is likely to eventually appear and cast fireproof.)
The Princess and the Wizard's Rooms
Return east, north, north, and north again to the Dragon's Lair. Kiss the princess, and she will wake. Wait one turn for her to leave. Follow her back to the Formal Garden and into the Gazebo (south, east, east, down, south, wait, east, east, north, in). Wait a few turns. Soon, the unicorn will appear, and you'll have the golden key from its neck as well as a perfect rose. You can drop the rose. ("Must something so beautiful have any other use?")
Leave the gazebo and go south, south, west, southwest, and southwest to the Guarded Room. Unlock the door with the gold key. Drop the key here. Get the red sphere. Open the door and go south, then west twice to the Aquarium Room. Throw your sword at the aquarium to break the glass. (If your sword has been filched, the steel box from the Carousel Room will also work.) Get the clear sphere and look into it. Hmm... strange. Go east to the Wizard's Workroom.
Put the clear sphere on the diamond stand, the red sphere on the ruby stand, and the blue sphere on the sapphire stand. Pick up the black sphere that appears and look into it. (And now that you have it, the next time you run into the Wizard, notice what he does!)
For Your Amusement:
Attack the princess. (save first)
Smell the rose.
Read the Wizard's degree from GUE Tech (in the Trophy Room, one room east and one south of the Wizard's Workroom).
Repeatedly look in the Wizard's Quarters (one room south from the Aquarium Room).
Break the aquarium glass directly rather than by throwing an object. (save first)
Take the serpent. (save first)
The Volcano
From the Wizard's Workroom, go east, north three times, down, and west into the Lava Room. Pick up the moby ruby and continue south to Volcano Bottom.
The odd wicker-basket-and-cloth-bag contraption here is a hot air balloon. Enter the basket, open the receptacle, and then put the newspaper in it. Light a match and burn the newspaper. (Yeah, yeah, that's nowhere near enough hot air. Moving along...) Read the label that drops from the balloon as it inflates, then drop the label. The balloon will begin to rise. Wait one turn until you come to Volcano Near Small Ledge. Land. Tie the wire to the hook.
Stand. Get the zorkmid. Go south to the Library. Open the purple book and get the stamp. Return north to the balloon and get in. Untie the wire from the hook.
Wait three turns until you are at Volcano Near Wide Ledge. Land and tie the wire to the hook. Stand and go south to the Dusty Room. Put the brick in the hole, put the string in the brick, and then light a match and burn the string. Immediately return north. After the explosion, go back south and get the crown. Read the card. ...Uh oh.
Hurry back north to Wide Ledge, enter the basket, and untie the wire. Close the receptacle to smother the fire. Wait 6 times while the balloon deflates and descends back to Volcano Bottom. Drop the card and matches. Stand.
Go north, east, east, southeast, southwest, and southwest to the Guarded Room. Drop your treasures (crown, stamp, zorkmid, and ruby) and head all the way back to the Dragon Room: north, northeast, north three times, west, and north. Go north into the Dragon's Lair and open the chest, twice if necessary. Take the statuette, and then go south and west twice to the Bank Entrance.
For Your Amusement:
Read the purple and white books.
Hang around in the Dusty Room while the brick explodes. (save first)
Land on one of the ledges without tying the wire to the hook. Get out of the balloon and wait five turns. (You can give the gnome a treasure if you like or just save first.)
Go all the way up and out the top of the volcano. (save first)
After you have set off the bomb in the Dusty Room, wait at Wide Ledge. (save first)
Drop the zorkmid coin in the Circular Room (i.e., the bottom of the well) and say make wish. (save first - this destroys the coin)
The Bank
Go northwest or northeast into one of the Teller's Rooms, then west (if you went northwest) or east (if you went northeast) into the Safety Depository. Read the paper on the ground, and then drop it. Read the stone cube (i.e., the bank vault). Go south to the Chairman's Office and take the portrait. Return north.
As seen in the room description, the north wall in the Safety Depository is "a shimmering curtain of light". It is insubstantial and you can walk through it to teleport to other Bank locations. The direction from which you entered the Depository controls the destination. If you come in from the East or West Teller's Room, walking through the north wall sends you to the East or West Viewing Rooms. If you come in from the Chairman's Office to the south, you go north to the Small Room. If you enter from the Small Room to the north, you go to the Vault.
So, since you just entered the Safety Depository from the Chairman's Office, walk through north wall. Leave the Small Room by walk through south wall, thus entering the Depository from the north. Then turn around and walk through north wall again to be transported to the Vault. Get the bills. Walk through the north wall once more and you'll be back in the Safety Depository.
If you try to just walk out with the portrait or bills, you'll set off an alarm, so drop them both here. Exit the room to the east or west, and then return east or west to the Safety Depository. (This will change the destination when you walk through the north wall.) Pick up the bills and portrait and walk through the north wall again. You will now be transported to the East or West Viewing Room, from which you can safely go south to the Bank Entrance.
For Your Amusement:
Enter the Small Room, wait six turns, then give the gnome a treasure. (or just save first)
Wait four turns inside the Vault. (save first)
Burn the zorkmid bills. (save first)
Eat the zorkmid bills.
Summoning the Demon
Go east, east, south, south, and southeast to the Carousel Room. Take a quick detour west and pick up the can of grue repellent. Go east, southwest, and southwest to the Guarded Room. Pick up what you can with get all and start transporting treasures to the Pentagram Room: south, west, and south of here. This will take a couple of trips (go north, east, north back to the Guarded Room); when dropping items, make sure to keep hold of your lamp, the black sphere, and the can of grue repellent. The ten treasures you need are: pearl necklace, gold key, dragon statuette, Stradivarius, portrait, moby ruby, zorkmid bills, crown, Flathead stamp, and zorkmid coin. (Treasures the Wizard has filched from you and, if you have died, any you had in your possession at the time are not required.)
When you've finished moving things, put the black sphere in the pentagram to summon the demon. Pick up the treasures and give them to the demon one at a time. After he finally agrees to do you a service, say demon, give me the wand, then get the wand. Other possibilities are demon, kill the wizard, which the demon seems to find quite cathartic, or demon, move the menhir. (This last, however, does not dispose of the Wizard's power.) If the Wizard has filched anything from you, you can take this opportunity to go to the Trophy Room (north, east, and south) and filch it back, if you like. (To filch your sword, refer to it as "elvish sword" to distinguish it from the others.)
For Your Amusement:
Die after freeing the demon (kill me with sword, if nothing else).
Ask the demon to do something before having given him all the treasures.
Ask the demon to kill Cerberus.
Ask the demon to find or examine something.
Tell the demon to take the wand (instead of give me the wand). (save first)
Ask the demon to kill you. (save first)
Play around with the wand. To cast a spell, point or wave the wand at something and say "[spell]". Unfortunately for the cause of said amusement, you cannot point the wand at yourself, and not everything else is an appropriate target. The possible spells are:
fall (makes target trip and fall when they move)
float (makes an object float)
freeze (makes target unable to move)
fence (makes target unable to leave the room: "An invisible fence of magical force bars your way")
fierce (enrages target)
ferment (makes target drunk)
fear (makes target afraid and run from the room)
feeble (makes target weak and unable to carry much or fight)
fumble (reduces target's carrying capacity, possibly making them drop items)
filch (steals a possession from target)
fantasize (makes target hallucinate)
fireproof (what it sounds like)
fry (destroys target "in a puff of smoke"; when the Wizard casts it on you, you get a much more dramatic description of being struck by lightning)
fudge ("a strong odor of chocolate permeates the room")
fluoresce (makes an object glow with light; I speculate this is the spell seen in the Enchanter games as frotz)
free (the demon casts this on himself if you tell him to take the wand instead of give it to you; apparently does what it sounds like)
frobizz, frobozzle, frobnoid (effects unknown; the Wizard attempts to cast these spells while you are in the process of summoning the demon, but fails)
The Oddly-Angled Rooms
From the Pentagram Room, go north, east, north, north, northeast, and south to the Menhir Room. Point the wand at the menhir and say "float". Go southwest into the Kennel. Get the collar and return northeast. Go south. Save the game and go down into the Oddly-Angled Room maze.
This "maze" is actually a baseball diamond. (Hmph, "oddly-angled" Implementor brains, if you ask me!) The solution is to walk in the sequence of directions of a standard baseball diamond, starting from the pitcher's mound. The pitcher traditionally faces west (hence a left-handed pitcher being a "southpaw"), thus the directions are west from the mound to home plate, then southeast, northeast, northwest, and southwest around the bases and back to home. However, there is some randomness involved in the game's handling of your directional inputs, and it is possible to get quite frustrated (though not actually stuck) even if you make the "correct" moves. Rather than mucking around trying to get the puzzle to reset, just restore and start over. (See this comment from dmstelzer on Jason Dyer's blog Renga in Blue for an explanation of the "maze" algorithm operating in the Oddly-Angled Rooms.)
In the room with the stairway leading upward, examine diamond. (You don't see this "diamond shaped window" in the room description, but it's there.) If the diamond is not already dark, alternate east and west until it turns dark. Then, go west. You should see a "long wooden club" - a baseball bat, as you're at home plate. If not, restore. From home, go southeast (dimly glowing), northeast (glowing), northwest (glowing brightly), and southwest (glowing serenely). You will hear "a strange rusty squeal echoing in the distance", and see the wooden club again.
For Your Amusement:
Pet Cerberus after collaring him.
Kill Cerberus after collaring him. (You monster.)
Remove Cerberus' collar. (save first)
Cast float and feeble on Cerberus.
Cast fierce on Cerberus. (save first)
The Crypt
Go west (or south? not always the same direction?) back to the room with the stairway. Go down to the Cerberus Room. Put the collar on Cerberus. Go east to the Crypt Anteroom. Open the door and go south into the Crypt. Apply repellent to me and turn off your lamp. Open the secret door you can now see, and - congratulations, moby adventurer - go south to Zork III.
For Your Amusement at various times:
Diagnose whenever the Wizard has just cast ferment, freeze, float, or feeble on you.
Try to move around while affected by the float spell.
Cast several spells in succession without waiting for the wand to recharge. (save first)
When the robot and the Wizard are both in the room, tell the robot to take the wand.
Give the bomb (brick) to the Wizard.
Say hello to the Wizard.
Extras
For further entertainment, you may be interested in:
Lists of bugs in Zork II: Nathan Simpson, Graeme Cree, XyzzyNews
Posts about this game at The Digital Antiquarian, The Adventure Gamer, and SPAG
Source code
Points
| Treasures | Points |
| Pearl necklace | 15 |
| Fancy violin | 20 |
| Golden key | 15 |
| Moby ruby | 15 |
| Zorkmid coin | 20 |
| Flathead stamp | 10 |
| Gaudy crown | 20 |
| Gold statuette | 20 |
| Portrait | 20 |
| Zorkmid bills | 25 |
| Other actions | |
| Answer the well riddle | 5 |
| Arrive at Top of Well | 10 |
| Get box of candies | 15 |
| Take red sphere | 20 |
| Take blue sphere | 20 |
| Deal with dragon | 5 |
| Take clear sphere | 20 |
| Enter Wizard's Workroom | 10 |
| Take black sphere | 30 |
| Give treasures to the demon (2 points each) | 20 max |
| Get the wand | 30 |
| Get the collar | 15 |
| Solve the Oddly-Angled Rooms | 5 |
| Enter Cerberus Room | 10 |
| Enter Crypt Anteroom | 3 |
| Enter Crypt | 2 |
| Total | 400 |
Last updated: 7/29/2023